Speech-Language Profile Groups in School Aged Children with Cerebral Palsy: Nonverbal Cognition, Receptive Language, Speech Intelligibility, and Motor Function.

Purpose: To explore the relationship of intelligibility, receptive language, executive functioning, and motor skills to nonverbal cognitive skills among children with cerebral palsy (CP) in different speech-language profile groups. Method: Twenty-seven children with CP aged 10-12 years old participated in the study. They completed a battery of standard clinical assessments. The relationship of various skillsets with nonverbal cognitive ability was explored using correlational procedures. Additionally, we examined pairwise differences in nonverbal cognitive skills among profile groups. Cohen's Kappa and Chi-square tests were used to study the consistency of receptive language and nonverbal cognitive performance.
Results: Children who showed better nonverbal cognitive abilities demonstrated better motor, receptive language, and intelligibility skills. Nonverbal cognition was generally consistent with receptive language.
Conclusion: Nonverbal cognitive impairment often co-occurs with language and speech motor impairment among children with CP. Speech-language profile groups are a useful framework for describing both communication and cognitive abilities.